Drugaddiction is a pathological condition. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) has categorized three stages of addiction: preoccupation/anticipation, binge/intoxication, and withdrawal/negative affect. These stages are characterized, respectively, everywhere by constant cravings and preoccupation with obtaining the substance; using more of the substance than necessary to experience the intoxicating effects; and experiencing tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and decreased motivation for normal life activities.[2] By the American Society of Addiction Medicine definition, drug addiction differs from drug dependence and drug tolerance.[3]

It is, both among scientists and other writers, quite usual to allow the concept of drug addiction to include persons who are not drug abusers according to the definition of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The term drug addiction is then used as a category which may include the same persons who under the DSM-IV can be given the diagnosis of substance dependence or substance abuse. (See also DSM-IV Codes)

THERE IS A STRONG THUNDERSTORM HEADED MY WAY, A STATIONARY FRONT EXPECTED TO BRING SOME VIOLENT WIND AND DROP A GOOD BIT OF RAIN. WE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER FLOOD WATCH. IF I DISAPPEAR, YOU'LL KNOW WHY. SEE YOU WHEN IT'S OVER MY FRIENDS.

A bigot is a person who is obstinately and irrationally, often intolerantly, devoted to his or her own religion, political party, organization, belief, or opinion, especially one who regards or treats those of differing devotion with hatred and intolerance.[1]Bigotry is the corresponding mindset or action.

The term bigot is often misused to pejoratively label those who merely oppose or disagree with the devotion of another. The correct use of the term, however, requires the elements of obstinacy, irrationality, and animus toward those of differing devotion.

As fragile as a teacup in the wrong hands, As empty as the nests that birds vacate just before the winter months. As silent as an enemy with worked out plans. As difficult as detail is to those who charge ahead without instructions or a may. So learning how to love again must be to those who leave off loving after having scaled love's mountain a time or two before.

I am a willing pupil ready to again take up the lesson book or attend the master class. Any day when I'm not learning even if it's called re-education I consider lost. I ask only patience... the kind the first grade teacher offers her most backward child that initial month, before demands of aggressive children learn to make out of ego and necessity.

Be as careful with me as you are when rounding corners new to you. I'll cram, I'll study and I'll work to merit this time spent with you. This new chance at reeducation.

Friday July 10, 2009, 8:05 AM

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) -- President Barack Obama is wrapping up finitely detailed talks with his G-8 partners on economic and environmental challenges and turning to more photogenic events: meeting the pope and becoming the first black American president to visit a mostly black African country.

He was throwing in a televised news conference from Italy for good measure.

Obama, his wife and daughters were to meet Pope Benedict XVI shortly before leaving Italy late Friday for Ghana. The two men have spoken by phone but not met before, aides say.

In Ghana, officials expect a tumultuous reception for Obama, whose father was from Kenya. Because the first family arrives rather late Friday night, the main ceremony in Accra will occur Saturday, before he departs for Washington after a weeklong trip that started in Russia.

It will involve drumming groups and Ghanians "putting their best foot forward in terms of the cultural richness of an incredibly diverse country," White House adviser Michelle Gavin told reporters Thursday. To help accommodate the many who cannot attend, U.S. and Ghanian officials have scheduled "watch parties," radio broadcasts and video coverage in theaters, parks and other places.

"I do not believe that there is a way in which we could ever fulfill or assuage the desires of those in Ghana or on the continent on one stop," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

But first, Obama had some final business at the Group of Eight nations meeting in central Italy, where he has had mixed success in seeking accords on greenhouse gas emissions and other matters. He was to meet with several African leaders early Friday, then hold a news conference.

Ahead of Obama's meeting with reporters, world leaders committed themselves to a $15 billion initiative to help farmers in poor countries boost production.

According to a draft statement obtained by The Associated Press, the money will be distributed over three years. Not all of it is new funding, though, and several countries are already well behind in aid pledges to Africa made four years ago.

The initiative, which would significantly change the global approach to hunger, was launched near the end of three days of G-8 talks. The draft statement is to be endorsed by another 19 nations, including African countries, which are attending the meeting.

Later Friday, Obama had an audience scheduled with the pope, whose generally conservative views will not entirely mesh with Obama's. They are likely to discuss world poverty, the Middle East and other topics, aides say, but the visit will be largely personal and spiritual.

"There are issues on which they'll agree, issues on which they'll disagree and issues on which they'll agree to continue to work on going forward," deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough told reporters Thursday.

"Given the influence of the Catholic Church globally," he said, and "the influence of the Catholic Church and church social teaching on the president himself, he recognizes that this is much more than your typical state visit."

Obama is a Protestant seeking a new church in Washington.

He will become the third straight U.S. president to visit Ghana, a relatively stable democracy in a continent wracked by poverty and heavy-handed governments. But he is the first such president of African descent.

Obama chose Ghana, Gavin said, "because it's such an admirable example of strong, democratic governance, vibrant civil society." There's much to admire, she said, and to hold up as "a counter to what one often hears about Africa."

On Saturday, Obama will meet with Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, and address the nation's parliament.

Spaniard gored to death during bull run

by Alvaro Barrientos, The Associated Press

Friday July 10, 2009, 8:26 AM

AP Photo/Peio H.EFEA unidentified wounded reveler is taken away on a stretcher after being gored in the neck on Friday by a bull during the San Fermin bull run, in Pamplona, northern Spain. The reveler was declared dead shortly after his arrival at hospital. It was the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly messy and dangerous chapter of the tradition.

PAMPLONA, Spain -- A charging bull gored a young Spanish man to death Friday at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.

Pamplona officials identified the man as Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, from Alcala de Henares, outside Madrid. He was on vacation with his parents and girlfriend, who identified him.

The San Fermin festival Web site said Jimeno Romero was gored in the neck and lung during a run in which a rogue bull named Capuchino separated from the pack, which is among the worst things that can happen at Spain's most popular fiesta.

Isolated bulls are more likely to get disoriented and start charging at people.

Photographs showed Jimeno Romero lying on a stretcher moments after the goring, his face and neck stained with blood and his eyes only half-open. An emergency medical worker was leaning over him, applying what appeared to be gauze to his neck wound.

Amateur video broadcast by Spanish TV station Cuatro showed Jimeno Romero trotting backwards, facing the oncoming bull, when he trips over other runners and goes down. The Spaniard then tries to squeeze feet-first under a wooden fence serving as a protective barrier, when the bull comes up and gores him in the neck with its right horn. Jimeno Romero instantly bled profusely, lying face up as medics tried to save him.

Three other people were gored during the run, and six people suffered bumps, bruises and other lesser injuries, said Fernando Boneta, director of Virgen del Camino Hospital.

Among the injured was a 61-year-old American who was struck in the chest and had internal bleeding in his lungs. Doctors said he was in intensive care but that his condition was not considered life-threatening. The man was identified by his initials, E.P.S., but his full name was not released.

Also injured in the run was a 20-year-old from London, and a 24-year-old Argentine. Another American, a 63-year-old identified by the initials K.L., injured an elbow.

The festival ends Tuesday, and there was no indication that the remaining bull runs would be canceled because of the death.

The last fatal goring at the running of the bulls was that of 22-year-old American Matthew Tassio in 1995. In 2003, a 63-year-old Spanish man, Fermin Etxeberri, was trampled in the head by a bull and died after spending months in a coma.

Friday's death raises to 15 the toll since record-keeping began in 1924.

Fatalities are relatively rare and when one occurs, it serves as a reminder that amid all the street parties and revelry associated with San Fermin, running with fighting bulls weighing 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) or more on cobblestone streets packed with people is a life-risking exercise.

This run, the fourth of eight held at San Fermin, was by far the most perilous of this year's festival. The previous three runs were comparatively placid affairs, with no serious injuries.

The six bulls covering the half-mile (850-meter) course with six accompanying steers tend to mind their own business and keep running as long as they stay in a pack. A bull that gets separated is more likely to get frightened and aggressive, and that is what happened Friday.

Capuchino, a brown, 1,130-pound (515-kilogram) specimen, fell early in the run and ended up on its own.

When it reached a stretch right outside the bullring that marks the end of the course, it started charging right and left, and even ran back the wrong way several times. Runners scurried for safety to wooden barriers along the route as the bull attacked. Herders waving sticks tried in vain to guide it into the ring, even yanking on the animal's tail to turn it around.

This went on for a minute and a half, which is a long time at San Fermin.

At one point the bull picked one man up with its horns and flipped him into the air, then kept going after him as he lay curled up on the ground, covering his face. He got up and ran away, and was apparently not seriously hurt.

Jimeno Romero was killed by the same bull at a stretch slightly before this one.

"It was a light bull. Its charges were not particularly strong but it moved very fast from left to right," one of the herders, Humberto Miguel, told The Associated Press. "Of the whole pack, it was the one that gave us the most trouble."

The bulls used in Friday's run, from a ranch called Jandilla, have a reputation for being fierce at San Fermin. They hold the record for the most gorings in a single run -- eight, one day in 2004.

The bulls used in the runs face matadors and almost certain death the same afternoon in the Pamplona bullring.

DUE TO RECENT EVENTS, I AM NOT ACCEPTING MOST FRIEND REQUESTS, ESPECIALLY BLANK ONES, UNLESS I KNOW YOU SOMEWHAT ALREADY. I HAVE BLOCKED MANY PEOPLE BECAUSE OF DRAMA, AND I AM STILL IN THE PROCESS OF SHORTENING MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY LIST HERE ON FU. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A FRIEND ON FU, YOU WILL NEED TO GET TO KNOW ME SOMEWHAT BEFORE THIS WILL HAPPEN.